A Year Has Passed
by Jazzman03
Summary: First of all welcome to my first ever Fanfic. This fan fiction is rated T. If you are not allowed to read this Fanfic, don't (although you probably will anyway). This is going to be a story about characters from Stranger Things. I hope you all have watched on Season 2. She's also called Eleven in this Fanfic, not Jane. Any suggestions just leave a review. Pls no hate though. Thanks
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**A/N: I'm sorry to begin with an author's note but I just wanted to say thanks for viewing this Fanfic and strap in cos it's about to get real. The characters are:**

 **·** **Mike Wheeler**

 **·** **Eleven**

 **·** **Will Byers**

 **·** **Lucas Sinclair**

 **·** **Dustin Henderson**

 **·** **Jim Hopper**

 **·** **Joyce Byers**

 **·** **Maxine "Max" Hargrove**

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Eleven suddenly jerked awake. She was sweating. El looked at the clock. 7:45. Perfect timing. It took a moment for her to realise that she was home. Home. She paused on the word for a minute saying it over and over again quietly. She was grateful to have a home. Ever since she had escaped the bad men at Hawkins Lab, she would occasionally have nightmares about her time there. Last night was a particularly bad one.

She dreamt about the night that she had been forced into a water tank and first made contact with the monster that had terrorised Hawkins only 2 years ago. It didn't feel that long ago.

She got up, had a shower, had her breakfast (Eggos, obviously) and got ready for school. El had her first day of school after Christmas Break '84. She had gotten used to the school environment pretty well and had most of her classes with her friends Lucas, Maxine, Dustin, Will and Mike. Oh Mike. She had been in a relationship with him ever since she had come back last year. The only classes she didn't have with them were P.E. and Religion. She made friends with some of the girls but usually kept to the group of friends that had protected her.

Now she was 14, 15 in a fortnight's time. She couldn't wait for her birthday. Presently El was living with Hopper who had moved in with Joyce a few months earlier. Hopper had adopted her (a concept she still didn't understand fully) and when he moved in with Joyce she had moved in as well. Hopper married Joyce in the summer and that meant that Jonathan and Will were her brothers. She enjoyed living here and it meant a lot that people finally accepted her.

She waited for Will to get ready before saying 'Bye' as she and Will hopped on their bikes that had been bought for them last year as Christmas presents from Joyce. They rode to school where they met up with Dustin, Mike and Lucas. They didn't see Max but then again she was always a little late for school. They went into their homeroom. They sat down at the front as Mr. Clarke took the register. The subject of today's homeroom was the transition into high school. After summer break next year they would all be heading into Hawkins High School. But that was still a long way off yet and there were still many more important things to think about.

When Homeroom was finished Eleven went up to Mike and said 'High School?'.

Mike explained, 'It's a place that we go once we are too old for middle school.'

Eleven asked 'Will you be there?'

Mike gave an answer in the affirmative.

'Great' said Eleven, 'Anywhere you are is good'.

Mike blushed but acknowledged the compliment.

The day went as smooth as school could be with everyone getting more and more homework to do as the tests were coming up soon.

Once she had finished one of the girls she knew (not that well) came up to her and asked her a very personal question.

She asked 'Are you and Mike Wheeler dating?'

El responded with a simple 'Yes'.

She asked another question; 'Have you and Wheeler you know… done it?'.

'Done it?' She replied inquisitively.

'Had sex?' the girl whispered.

'What is sex?' El asked.

Just then Mike came along and the girl retreated back to her group of friends and they started giggling.

They all rode home and Mike asked Will to remind Joyce that it was Friday and that it was weekly Sleepover night. This was something that had been established last year and that all the parents agreed to let happen. There was a schedule. It would go Dustin, Lucas, Mike, Will and El, Max. This week it was Lucas's turn.

 **What's gonna happen in the next chapter. Will be uploaded by next Tuesday.**


	2. Chapter 2: Lucas Sinclair's House

One by one they arrived at the house. They arrived between the times of 17:00 and 17:15 Will and El first, then Dustin, Mike and Max last. Max was a noticeable girl on account of her fiery red hair. She had moved to Hawkins, IN last summer from California and almost immediately made friends with Dustin and Lucas. Her brother used to be quite abusive but after a certain Demo-dog attack at the Byers' house, he kept out of her way. Mike took a bit longer to accept her as he thought that they were trying to replace El on account of her being kept hidden away by Hopper for a year. He finally accepted her when El came back and El and Max formed an unlikely friendship

The D&D set was bought out set up and before long they were playing. Max had slowly learned how to play but still occasionally asked questions about it. After about 45mins of playing El suddenly asked 'Mike, what is sex?' They all froze and looked at El. 

There was at least 30 seconds of awkward silence before Dustin said 'Yeah Mike, please explain what sex is'.

Mike went as red as he could possibly go 'Umm, we already learn about it in Sex Ed I don't think that –' 

'For El's benefit, remember she wasn't that well over the three day course we took last April' Dustin said cutting him off. El had a stomach bug and so missed out on the Sex Ed course. The boys had forgotten to tell her about it.

Before Mike could think of another excuse El said 'Mike please say and remember friends don't lie.'

Will had been listening in on the conversation not wanting to say anything on account of El being his 'sister'. Finally, he plucked up the courage to join in and asked 'What's all the fuss about.' 

'Mike is just about to tell us what sex is, aren't you Mike' Lucas said looking at Mike

'He doesn't have to, he looks uncomfortable' said Will.

It's ok Will, but thanks' replied Mike.

Mike exhaled a deep breath before starting. 'Sex is when two people love each other very much and they show that through physical actions.'

'Like me and you?' asked El.

Mike responded with 'Yeah I guess so. Maybe sometime in the future'

'When?' asked El, and at her asking this Dustin, Max and Lucas burst out laughing

'I don't know, sorry' Mike replied, blushing.

It's ok Mike' replied El

'I think that you should Mike' encouraged Lucas.

'No Lucas. I think Mr. Clarke is more the person you should be asking this too as he taught us all of it and he has more knowledge of it than we do' said Mike

'Ok, I'll go ask him tomorrow' replied El. 

Mike let out a sigh of relief but it was interrupted by complaints from all the boys attending.

'Come on' said Dustin and Lucas in unison

Max said 'Since I'm new here I'll tag along as well El.'

El simply nodded in acknowledgment.

Despite Dustin's protests at first, they finished their D&D game with no more mention of the s-word (sex). By the time they had finished it was past midnight and Lucas's sister came down to ask them to 'shut up nerds' numerous times. Lucas's Mom had to come down so that they didn't have another game.

They all shuffled into their sleeping bags and one by one fell asleep except Mike. He kept wondering whether El would enjoy doing it. What he wanted to think is 'Yeah, she'll love you forever.' What he really thought however was 'I hope I don't screw things up and make it super awkward'.

He finally went to sleep imagining what it would be like. The house fell silent except for the snoring. Until El suddenly awoke in the night with a nose bleed…


	3. Chapter 3: The Weekend

El suddenly woke up, shivering. She checked her watch. 3:46 AM. She had a small nose bleed. El got up to go to the bathroom to clean up but suddenly realised she was no longer at Lucas's house. She was in a room with 4 grey walls, a mirror and a door. As she looked around she noticed the mirror and stared in disbelief. She was no longer a confident 14 year old girl but a 12 year old girl with a buzz cut.

Suddenly she heard her door opening and there in the doorway stood Dr Martin Brenner, or 'Papa' as she knew him. He reached out and she was somehow compelled to take his hand like she trusted him with her life. They started walking. When Brenner put his hand on her shoulders she shivered and bounced back to reality and Mike was their staring at her, hands on her shoulders just like Brenner. Relief poured through her body.

'I had a nightmare' said El.

'It's okay. I'm here' whispered Mike.

She looked around the room and realised that all of the stuff in Lucas's basement was floating. She felt her nose and sure enough there was a small bit of blood. The other guys were awake too but kept their distance to allow Mike to comfort El.

'I dreamt I was back there with the bad men and Papa' said El.

Mike hated when El called Dr Brenner Papa. After all the things he had done to his beloved, it made his blood boil and gave him a desire to rip all the limbs from his body. This, however, would make him no different to the monsters that had plagued the town two years in a row so Mike made sure that he kept that to himself. They made it back to sleep after El had cleaned herself up.

'Rise and shine' Lucas's mom called.

It was Saturday It was a nice day. The sun was shining. The perfect day to be playing video games on Lucas's new NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) his mom had bought him in the summer. After they had all gotten up, dressed and ate breakfast it was already 10:30 AM. They set up the system in no time and were soon playing together with El staring at the TV screen, intrigued by the graphics and by how the TV was just like her eyes but with better things to see than in real life.

Mike suggested they have a D&D marathon tomorrow but nearly everyone had plans. Dustin had to go upstate to see his aunt. Lucas and Max and their moms were going on a road trip around Indiana and would not be back till very late. Will and Jonathan were doing a brother day thing so the only person available was El. If Mike had to choose between D&D and El he would go for El all day long. Thank god she was available.

The day went passed quickly and soon enough it was 6:30, when it was time for all of them to return to their houses. Mike planted a kiss on El's head as did Lucas to Max. They all biked home after that. Mike got home just after 6:45 PM. His parents asked him how it went and he responded very positively.

When Sunday rolled around Mike went over to the Byers residence and waited for El. She hopped on her bike and they rode into town. When they got there it was as usual as a small town in the Northern US could be on a Sunday. Mike said that he had to go and get something and that he would be back soon. Mike was going to get El a nice birthday card, even though it was next weekend; he knew that he would forget. El meanwhile wandered around the town she knew so well. She skipped over to Benny's Burgers where she met Mike and they had lunch.

When they had finished lunch they each went their separate ways and agreed to see each other in school tomorrow waving to Will and John as they came into Benny's just as they were leaving

Will meanwhile was out with his brother. He caught a glimpse of Mike and El and waved. They waved back. Will turned to Jonathan and said 'Why don't we get something to eat in Benny's'.

'Yeah that sounds like a good idea. I am quite hungry, actually' replied Jonathan. They went in just as Mike and El were coming out. They waved goodbye and sat down. They ordered and just as the waitress left, he saw them kiss outside.

'They're a great match for each other' remarked Jonathan.

'Yeah I guess they are, like you and Nancy are' said Will.

'Yeah I guess you could say that' replied Jonathan.

They ate up, paid the bill and went to get their outfits for El's party next week. It was going to be a big one and a surprise at that. Everyone secretly hoped that it wouldn't be too much of a shock as they knew what she was capable of when startled. El would be going to get an outfit on Thursday after school. Joyce had her under the premise that she was going to see a movie on Sunday and that she was going shopping with Nancy Wheeler to pick out a dress for that.

 **I'm working on this Fanfic like mad. Next Chapter coming soon.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Slow Week

The week began like any other. Her watch went off at 7:45. She ate her breakfast, slower than usual although it was a Monday. El found that she disliked Monday more than any other day. It meant getting out of the weekend regime and back into the weekday routine. El much preferred the weekend routine.

Once she was ready, she got on her bike and made her way into town. Will was feeling ill today so he stayed home. There was a different feel about today as she was finally going to learn what 'sex' was. She checked with Mr. Clarke that it would be ok for her to stay after school and learn about sex. When school had finished she stayed behind for her class. When it was finished she thanked Mr. Clarke and left homebound just after 17:00

El had trouble remembering everything that she had learnt about sex but she was pretty sure of what was involved, how to do it and what happened after. For instance, she didn't know that babies are made through this act. El also didn't know that boys didn't have what she had. El had often wondered why boys had different changing rooms and toilets. Now she understood why.

When she arrived home she went to check on Will and he had recovered over the day so that was good. She had a couple of pieces of homework to do so she went up to her room to do her homework. Her room was not a typical girl's room. When Hopper had moved in with Joyce, there was no room for El so they had to build her a new room (El's powers really came in handy). It was covered in posters for basketball clubs.

El had a passion for basketball but she had never tried out for the team. Her friends had pushed her too but she had never taken them seriously. When she had done all her homework she went downstairs and asked if she could go over to Mike's for dinner. They agreed as long as she was back in time for bed as it was a school night.

She got over to Mike's and his mom was all too pleased to see her, as she usually was. They said hi before going downstairs where El helped Mike with the same homework that she had finished earlier. They finished just in time for dinner and it was a lovely beef casserole with mixed veg and gravy. She headed home after that with a full stomach and a kiss planted on her forehead by the boy she held most dear.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed by pretty normally. Will went back to school on Tuesday and El stayed home for dinner. Before long it was Thursday afternoon and she was on her way to the Wheeler's house but not to see Mike for once. She was going to pick out her dress for her 'movie' on Sunday. Jonathan was driving them to the store and would pick them up about 1hr after he had dropped them off.

They got out the car and went into the clothes store. El gasped. Even though she had been in the store before, it never ceased to amaze her that all these clothes could be all in one place. Nancy said 'Go over to the Girls section. I'm sure you'll find something that you like. Please make sure it's not that expensive'.

'Ok' El replied.

She skipped over to the girls section and in about 10mins she had found 2 dresses that she couldn't pick between. One was lime green over the shoulders. One was yellow and strapless. She went over to tell Nancy. Nancy had picked out a couple of new thing for herself and went over to see El in her two dresses.

After showing them both to Nancy they both decided that she looked better in the yellow one and so bought it. It cost $45.99 but it was worth it. They went and got some ice cream afterwards before Jonathan picked them up. He dropped Nancy home and then drove back home with El.

Friday went as quick as El wanted it to go because this week the sleepover was at Mike's house. They all showed up at the usual time loaded up on food and ready for a D&D game. The game lasted well into the night and they finally went to bed just before midnight.

They all woke up on Saturday morning around 9:00. Joyce made sure to tell Will to come up with a way for them to stay at Mike's all day Saturday like they did the week before as she was getting things ready for the party. Joyce even suggested that they all spend Saturday night at Mike's as well. They all knew the reason why.

They set up a D&D game that lasted the whole day. At the end of the game Mike thought to himself 'This is what true friends are. I am so thankful to have such great friends'. With that they all fell asleep with great anticipation for the party tomorrow (Except El who was wondering what film they would be going to see tomorrow). Once again Dustin's snoring took over the whole house and tomorrow's party was going to be nothing short of spectacular.

 **Chapter 5 coming soon. I hope you have enjoyed reading so far and I would be grateful if you could favourite my story and follow. Thanks a lot guys.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Birthday Party

The day started like any other would for El. She got up, had her breakfast (do I really need to say that they were Eggos) and got in the shower. Whilst she was in the shower, Joyce & Co helped put up all her decorations. One by one the guests arrived and were told to get in position just like they had practiced while El was at school.

Meanwhile El had just got out the shower and was drying off. She heard a bump downstairs and called down to Joyce 'Is everything all right, Mama'.

'Yes sweetie, nothing to worry about' replied Joyce.

'God that was a close one' she thought.

El got into her dress and headed downstairs. What she got was far better than a movie. 'SURPRISE!' everyone shouted as El came into view. El was so startled she almost fell down the stairs but just managed to keep her balance.

'Happy Birthday, El' said Joyce, 'You look beautiful, darling.'

'Mama, thank you so much' El said, before turning to the guests. 'Hi everyone' she said as she prepared for all the hugs and Happy Birthday's she was about to receive.

There were about 20 people at the party. There was Joyce, Hopper, Will, Jonathan, Dustin & Parents, Lucas, his sister & Parents, Steve Harrington, Maxine, Nancy, Mrs. Wheeler and Mr. Wheeler. Mr. Clarke showed up to give El a card but then had to leave. She noticed almost immediately that Mike wasn't in the crowd.

Mrs. Wheeler came over and said 'Mike is ill today and he had to stay home. He was so distraught to miss the party but he asked me to give you a card and a present he bought. El wondered out into the garden distraught that Mike had missed her party.

All of that sadness was washed away when she saw Mike standing in the garden.

'Mike' said El as she rushed over and gave him a big hug. Mike returned the hug even stronger.

'Your mom, she told me you were ill' said El.

'That was just a cover up so that I could see you away from all the hustle and bustle' he replied, 'I wanted to give you my present privately so that you could appreciate it more' and as he said this he pulled from his pocket a leather box. He gave it to El and she opened it. Inside was a beautiful ring. Nothing over the top, but it was really pretty nonetheless. She put it on and it fit perfectly. It suited her very well.

'Thank you' she said but as El went to hug him again, she found that he pressed his lips against hers and they shared a kiss that seemed like forever but only lasted about 30 seconds.

'You two, come inside' said Joyce and they both shuffled inside ready to enjoy the party.

When they got inside what greeted them was surprising. They saw Lucas giving Maxine a kiss unlike the one they themselves had just shared. All the parents were in one room and all of the kids were in the other. There was Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' playing in the background on the CD player and everyone was dancing to it. The song changed after a while to Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark, one of El's favourite songs. Eventually people got tired of dancing and so El decided it would be a good time to open her presents.

She got loads of presents. She got the ring from Mike a basketball poster from Dustin & Family, Lucas & Family got her a Yoyo, Will got her a special walkie-talkie with batteries like the other four boys had as her old walkie-talkie broke a couple of weeks back. Jonathan, Nancy, Mr. Clarke, Mr and Mrs. Wheeler and Steve all gave her money in their cards. Hopper got her a new basketball. Joyce told her to come out back and there was a gleaming new basketball hoop. A space had been cleared of grass so there was enough space to practice basketball with the ball being able to bounce as well.

They played Pass the Parcel, Freeze Dance (aka Musical Statues), Musical Chairs and with her new basketball hoop the kids went outside and played some basketball while the adults watched from inside. The party lasted well into the afternoon and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Before they left they played one more song which was Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. They all danced to it and then people started to leave. Steve first followed by Mr. Wheeler and Nancy, Dustin and his parents, Max, Lucas & Family and finally Mrs. Wheeler.

'I'll be home later' said Mike and with that his mom left.

Mike helped everyone clean up and within an hour the whole place was just about tidy. They all cleaned themselves off and just slumped on the sofa. Mike and El headed off to her bedroom where they chatted about the party, the ring and how school was going. Eventually El went to take a shower and Mike was about to leave when he heard El call out 'Mike can you get me a new bottle of shampoo'.

'Yeah ok' said Mike. He headed into the bathroom and what awaited him in there, he never forgot.

 **A/N: Chapter 6 is taking much longer to work on than I previously thought so please bear with me. I am also working on other things that are'nt fanfic related. Hopefully chapter 6 will be out by Sunday 19th**


	6. Chapter 6: El Gets It On

What he saw was something he would never forget. Inside the bathroom was El holding her hand out waiting for the shampoo. The shower curtain shielded the rest of her body from sight. 'Damn' thought Mike. He gave her the shampoo. He turned to exit the bathroom but as he did, the door of the bathroom swung shut and El exited the shower, putting a towel on. She whispered into Mike's ear 'I wanna do sex.'

'What' Mike exclaimed as he registered what El had just said.

'I wanna do sex' repeated El.

'I think were a bit young' said Mike.

'Come on Mike please, you're the only one I can and want to do it with.

Mike could feel his insides starting to tingle as his heart said yes and his mind said no.

Mike had to make a decision and ultimately Mike chose his heart.

Mike looked in the bathroom cabinet they had installed last year and found a packet of condoms.

'Perfect' he thought as he began to visualize what this encounter was going to look like. He imagined how it would feel and was getting turned on so quickly.

Mike looked at El and they both had the same expressions on their faces. They had no idea what to do. Mike told El to try and remember what Mr. Clarke had taught her after school that day. Mike said he had watched something called porn which is a video of two people having sex. He explained to El that both people needed to be naked when having sex however this was not the case. He recommended to El that she be naked though. El simply said OK and dropped her towel.

'Wow!' Mike thought as he gazed at her body. She had an amazing figure with clothes on but now Mike fully appreciated it. He stared like an idiot in awe as El reminded him that he needed to take his clothes off as well.

'Oh, Sorry' said Mike and started to get undressed. His heart was racing and he had an annoying voice in his head saying don't do it. Before they could do anything further Mike locked the door and put the blinds down to ensure privacy.

'Oh my god' El thought 'I'm really going to do sex with Mike. El still hadn't got her grammar perfect and still occasionally misspoke certain phrases. She had begun to help Mike undress and when he took his final item of clothing off, El was ready for what lay ahead or so she thought. She had butterflies in her stomach and her heart was racing too.

Once they figured out what to do they were at it for about 20 mins. By the time they finished both were so tired but were both so happy and oh so pleasured by the experience.

'Wow' said Mike as he breathed hard.

'I wanna do that all day, every day' said El as she got herself dressed and left the bathroom.

Mike got dressed and cycled home, a massive grin on his face the entire trip. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He had managed to have sex with El. That was a lifetime achievement as far as he was concerned. When he arrived home, his parents were in the sitting room watching TV and Nancy was in her room as usual. He said hi to his mom and headed upstairs to his room, still grinning. He bumped into Nancy who was on her way to the bathroom.

'Why have you got that stupid grin on your face?' asked Nancy.

'No reason' said Mike.

'Yeah there is' retorted Nancy.

'No, it's nothing really' he said.

'Yeah there is and you're gonna tell me' Nancy replied.

After a couple of minutes of this going back and forth Mike could tell he wasn't gonna get out of this. He tried one more attempt but Nancy was being herself and she wouldn't budge. At this point, Nancy had forgotten all about the bathroom.

'I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else' said Mike.

'Okay' said Nancy, 'Hurry up already!'

'Okay. Me and El had sex' said Mike.

'WHAT!?' exclaimed Nancy.

'Me and El had sex' said Mike.

'Wow, I was not expecting THAT' she replied.

'I know neither was I, to be honest' said Mike.

'First of all your grammar is appalling' said Nancy, 'It should be El and I not me and El. Second of all, Way to go little bro. How was it?'

'It was…different' replied Mike, 'It was like nothing I'd ever felt before.'

'I know' she said, 'whatever you felt during it, the girl experiences tenfold.'

'What do you mean?' asked Mike.

'When I first did it with that douche Steve Harrington, he was fully in it but it was another level for me, I was on Cloud 9'.

'Thanks for that image' Mike said, sarcastically.

'Anyway, I've got something to do in the bathroom so please don't interrupt me' said Nancy.

Mike let her through and headed up to his bedroom grinning again before being reminded that he had his tests coming up next week. 'Yay' Mike sarcastically thought as he said goodnight to his parents and slipped into his bed happily remembering the events of the day.


	7. Chapter 7: Test Week

Mike woke up feeling ready to start the day which was unusual for him especially on a Monday. He was in a chirpy mood and he wolfed down his breakfast gave his Mom a big hug and said 'Goodbye' before hopping on his bike ready for a new day at school.

He arrived at school just on time and headed into homeroom. Mr. Clarke took the register and reminded them that they had tests coming up on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. He also told them that it was a half day on Friday and they were able to leave at 13:00. They had been doing revision in class for the past couple of weeks and all of the class were waiting for the bell to go on Friday afternoon.

The gang got through Monday no problem hanging out with each other at break to go through notes and to help each other with topics they didn't understand. Tuesday was pretty much the same although everyone was a little stressed as the exams were edging closer and closer every hour. When Tuesday was finally over they all fella sleep stressed about the exams and about how they were going to do.

Wednesday morning. The gang woke up around the same time all tired and hoping that they had done enough revision to pass their exams. They got into school early to go over some last minute notes and making sure that they had all the formulae for the maths exam. They all looked at their exam timetables just to be sure what was when. There were three exams on Wednesday and Thursday and two on Friday. Wednesday was Science – Chemistry and Physics, Maths and Religion. On Thursday gave them English, Geography and Spanish. Friday was Biology and History. They came out of the religion exam thanking God it was over (pun intended)

According to Dustin an exam was 'The shittest concept ever to come out of a teachers mouth'.

'I know what you mean man. The maths exam was bullshit' said Mike.

'Science was easy' chorused Will and Lucas.

'I thought that the Maths exam was kinda easy' said Max, suddenly appearing behind them.

'What!' the boys exclaimed.

'Yeah I found it easy.

'The exams were hard not to fidget in and I thought that the numbers exam was hard but the Science and the other one were not that hard' said El.

'Yeah I guess so' said Mike.

They wanted to hang out but they all had revision for the next two days of exams.

Max heard the familiar sound of her stepbrother's car and got in and they drove away.

El and Will cycled home together. Lucas and Mike also cycled home together. Dustin went home alone. Revision dominated their afternoons and most of them only stopped to have dinner.

The same routine was put into plan for Thursday. The exams came and gone with the same comments being made as yesterday. Max aced Spanish. Will, Lucas and El did great in English. Mike and Dustin both aced Geography. They once again stayed up till the moon and night swallowed up the sky revising until their eyes were red.

They all woke up on Friday morning waiting for that bell to go in the exam hall. They entered biology prepared. The boys did great in Biology but it was the girls who had the upper hand in History.

'RIIIIINNNNGGGGG'. The bell went and all the students rushed out of the hall, eager to get home. The gang assembled outside the school and discussed their plans for the rest of the day. This weekend the sleepover would take place at the Byers residence.

The sleepover would not be the same this weekend because the Mind Flayer had spent one year planning its revenge and this particular weekend is when it chose to exact it. First, it had to get rid of the girl and for that it would need more than Demogorgons and Demo-dogs. It would take a much more powerful enemy to take them down and so he fashioned an enemy like no other. It had eyes bulging out the sides of its head. It had claws the size of a motorbike. It also had a healing factor that worked very fast. It stood 7 feet 11 inches tall.

It had 2 sets of 24 teeth for chewing up its victims. Its skin was a gooey dark green colour like army camouflage and it walked around on two legs. The head was taken up mostly by the mouth and eyes with the back of its head bare skinned and vulnerable to attack. The Mind Flayer had fashioned many of these creatures and they only had two weaknesses. The first was the back of its head and the second was chlorine. Even the tiniest amount would burn the skin and render the limb unreplaceable.

Back at his house Dustin was busy getting his stuff ready for the sleepover when all of a sudden he felt a small itch at the back of his head. He went to itch it and when he made contact with his head he lost consciousness as he saw a vision of the Mind Flayer and as if by instinct he understood what he had to do. This was all because of that sticky substance that was 'breathed' onto him in the Upside Down last year.

The Mind Flayer was not done yet. It had one more target and that was the one person that everyone thought was invincible, that everyone admired and that everyone trusted. Yes, it was Chief Jim Hopper himself.


	8. Chapter 8: The Nightmare Sleepover

The sleepover started a little earlier than earlier due to the early closure on Friday. Dustin arrived at the sleepover later than usual and looked tired and sluggish from the off. He soon put these uncertainties to bed though as the D&D game was brought out. He played his usual style and everyone went through the game feeling happy as could be.

As soon as the game was finished they put their plan into action Codename: Midnight Feast. The gang raided the fridge downstairs and tucked into the snacks that they had brought themselves (this feast was pre-planned of course). Dustin usually revelled in the thought of eating but he said 'I'm not that hungry guys I'll pass on the food ok'. They thought that this was weird but their stomachs took over and they soon forgot about this. Dustin went to sleep before they had even finished eating saying that he was sick.

The feast may have started before midnight but it certainly didn't finish until way after midnight. Slowly their eyes closed though and by 1:30 AM they were all sound asleep. At 3:40 AM one of the members woke up to go and get a drink, Lucas. When he returned he thought he would scare everyone and so he woke everyone up by shaking them with a terrified look in his eyes and then persuading them to do it to the next unfortunate victim.

He woke up Will first but not by scaring him as he knew what Will had gone through and so it would be unfair to him to be scared by them. One by one they were scared into getting up and once they realised what had happened they said 'F*** you D***head' or something like that. When he got to the last bed, Dustin's, they soon realised that Dustin was no longer in his bed and was nowhere to be seen.

They searched the house before waking up Joyce and Hopper to say that Dustin was missing and that they had no idea what had happened. When they had woken up properly Hopper put on some old clothes and had a look around the property for him but to no avail. They decided to set up a station where Eleven could use her powers to try and find him. She tried this but for the first time in her life she could not see where her target was. In her vision saw pure white light which temporarily blinded her and she suddenly felt a jolt of electricity run through her body as she tried to find him.

They stopped this process and Hopper resorted to searching Hawkins manually. He took Mike and Eleven with him with the intentions of enlisting Steve Harrington's help to find the missing boy.

They stopped off at his house but his mother assured him that he had not been home and that she wanted him found and home as soon as possible. As they approached Steve's house they began to getr a little agitated as there was a sense in the air that was had been going on was not right. Steve agreed to help and hopped in the truck. They journeyed around Hawkins for two hours more that night before Hopper called it quits and said they would look again when it was lighter.

They were on their way home when they suddenly heard a loud inhuman scream from the woods. Hopper and Steve agreed to go and check it out. Steve and Hopper returned 20mins later with no news. They dropped Steve off before heading back to the house to go back to sleep.

They all woke up quite late for obvious reasons and even then were very tired. As they woke up they noticed a figure moving around where Dustin's bed was. It was Dustin himself. Mike and Will jolted him awake and bombarded him with questions but Dustin simply stayed silent and when they started demanding answers he went to the bathroom to 'get ready'.

When he came out of the bathroom he got dressed and suddenly froze for a couple of seconds and proceeded into Joyce and Jim's room. Dustin touched Hopper on the forehead and quick as a flash Hopper was out of bed speaking in a language not known to humankind. The others backed out of the room as Dustin and Hopper 'chatted'.

Before they could make it out of the room though, Dustin and Hopper looked at the gang before saying simultaneously 'Bring us the girl and the boy for whom she has a deep passion. Bring us her brother as well'. The gang froze with fear and couldn't think what to do. Hopper and Dustin looked at each other before pouncing on the group.

A worthy length of time later El, Will and Mike awoke in a place that they had never been to. In front of them stood Dustin and Hopper who both had wild grins on their faces. 'Welcome, younglings' they said in unison. 'The boss will be very happy to see you they said and then they laughed manically. Unbeknownst to them a third figure stood in the shadows waiting for the perfect time to take its targets.


	9. Chapter 9: Unknown Territories

As the day went on, they could only assume it was day, they began to feel hungry and thirsty so Mike plucked up the courage to ask when the food and the drink would be served and the possessed Dustin responded with 'Soon, little on. Master will bring food with him worthy of human consumption' and he cackled off into the tunnel leaving Hopper alone to guard the three. El had been trying to use her psychic powers but the material used in this building was blocking her powers somehow.

As time went on they got more and more agitated and bored. The being in the shadows had been spying on them waiting for the right time. Suddenly Dustin and Hopper stopped completely as they heard a knock on the door. The Boss had arrived. They went to open the door and a big man walked in with his two bodyguards. A chair appeared out of nowhere and the man sat down. There was something about his bodyguards that made them seem not entirely human and nobody wanted to find out what they really were.

The Boss sat in silence for what seemed like eternity but finally spoke. 'You're not the only one with powers you know' he said directing the statement at El. 'Why are you keeping us here?' asked Mike, aggressively. 'I just wanted to meet you and something told me you wouldn't have come quietly'. 'You're right about that' he replied'. 'I wanted to talk to you about something, a business proposition if you like' the Boss announced to them. 'I may be known as the boss but I am in no way the head of this arrangement. You may know who I'm talking about as The Mind Flayer. In the year that you have been free from him he has been busy trying to recruit people to try and round you three up to try and convince you to join you. Before you speak let me tell you my story'.

'About 3 months ago I was a low life, delivering pizzas and in my spare time taking and delivering drugs. I had just got high when my head felt strange even for a druggie like me. I heard a high pitched screech but I knew what it meant exactly, somehow. The 'Mind Flayer' was calling out to me and it asked me to find three kids each matching your descriptions. He helped me and he can help you as well.' Will, who had been silent until this point suddenly said 'No and we don't **want** its help' and the others nodded in agreement. 'He also has a message for you. 'Not all the gates are closed'.

With that he finished his speech, got up and left the room but as he went for the door the figure in the shadows picked its moment to attack its prey. It attacked the boss and before the bodyguards could register what happened they were lying on the floor with their life slowly draining away from them. The figure stood before the three scared teens holding the boss up by the neck. He stuck his weapon into his throat and threw him to the ground.

He turned to look at the teens. They observed that he was a 15/16 year old black male with clear skills in combat and a tattoo with the numbers 006 on his lower wrist where El's were. He finally spoke. 'Eleven, William, Michael, I am Six but I have adopted the name Callum, Cal for short. We must leave now for we have alerted **it** of our intentions against itself.

Cal lifted his weapon, a 7 foot long spear with a green coloured staff and a sharp metal tip, and told the others to follow him. Dustin and Hopper, who had been waiting outside, went to look at what all the commotion was inside but as they did they received a very heavy and painful hit to the head from the hilt of Cal's spear. When he did this he took both their heads and slammed them against a nearby railing. When he did this, a large cloud of smoke erupted from both Hopper's and Dustin's mouth, nose and ears.

It took them a while to find out where they were but they mumbled a few syllables before passing out. Cal lifted up Hopper and got Mike and Will to hoist Dustin into the back of his white van. They noticed that they were in Chicago and that they were near the Willis Tower. The gang was too scared to think about trust issues and so they got into his van and when they started driving. Cal explained that he would drive them back to Hawkins and would stick around to have a look in the now defunct Hawkins Lab.

After about an hour on the road they saw a sign saying to turn off for Hawkins. With their spirits raised and excited about being home they calmly chatted amongst themselves about their little 'adventure' and quizzed Cal about where he came from and who he was. He was born in Cambodia but was brought here as a child with his parents and moved to Indianapolis. He went to get milk one night and was snatched by some men and he awoke some time later in Hawkins Lab.

They pulled into Hawkins in the dead of night and the town seemed quiet and peaceful. If only this could actually be the truth…

 **A/N: I will be releasing Chapter 10 next Sunday but I will not be releasing #11 on the 24th. It will be a Christmas special and will be released on Monday 25th instead**


	10. Chapter 10: Thanksgiving

About 2 weeks after this eventful journey Chicago seemed an eternity in the past as everyone was getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nothing much had happened. All the families were having a nice turkey dinner with the potatoes and vegetables. The kids got Thanksgiving Day off school (it was a Thursday) and were thankful for the lie in.

El and Will's family were prepping a large turkey for the 5 mouths that needed feeding. Their family wasn't particularly religious but they said grace anyway. They promptly ate all their food and were asking for dessert in no time at all. Dustin, his parents and their cat ate a similar dinner, but with a turkey that was a little smaller. They ate dinner slowly talking about school and how Dustin was doing with the _ladies_.

Lucas's family were the traditional family, saying grace, making polite conversation and practising common table etiquette. They thoroughly enjoyed their meal and were the average family at Thanksgiving. Mike and his family had a nice turkey which was very nice and they all enjoyed it. It all seemed normal and quiet.

Outside was a different story. If you so much as took a step outside the frost bit you like a lion taking a deer. The cold was enough to make a penguin freeze and there wasn't even any snow to make up for that it was just sleet. Cal meanwhile was patrolling around the neighbourhoods looking for any disturbances or any unusual activity.

A shadow was cats over his face as he was lonely and wanted to be with his own family. But first he had to do it. Find all the people who had taken him. He remembered what they had done to him. Put him through all those tests to be made into a war machine for the government. He had heightened senses and a combat ability in nearly every situation/weapon known to man. He had escaped due to his abilities. He had multiple offers to spend thanksgiving with the gang but had declined wanting for itto be just family but also as he wanted to be alone.

He had broken into Hawkins Lab a couple of days ago and was surprised to see some files left behind. He took a look through and found an address for a couple who were on record as his biological parents. He had taken a trip to their last known address and had found that they had moved out. He had a conversation with the current owners and he said that his parents had died. They asked how he knew them and he just said that he was a friend of a friend.

He found out his real birth name was Joshua Ewinkembo and his parents were Robert and Mary. H visited their grave, payed his respects and returned home that same day. He had had a rough life, much like Eleven and was on a quest to help as many people as he could. He would break the news that he was leaving soon enough.

Kali sat with her gang if roughnuts and contemplated how she could spend thanksgiving. They couldn't go out and buy a turkey as they couldn't cook it and during their last mission Axel's face had been caught on video and they had to get out before the job was finished. She wondered how Eleven was doing.

They heard the doors burst down behind them and before she had a chance to use her powers she was blindfolded and handcuffed. She heard a voice say 'Hello, Eight'. She recognised the voice instantly. It made her blood boil and her heart beat faster than usual. The man in front of her had silky white hair and blue piercing eyes. His voice was cold and emotionless. It was Papa himself, Dr Martin Brenner. They left soon after this with one subject and 4 dead friends.

Back in Hawkins they had all started to get ready for bed and had no idea about Cal/Joshua's predicament. They were all tucked in for a nice sleep and itching for December to come round.

December 1st

Hawkins was lit up with Christmas lights as December was upon them. Christmas adverts were everywhere and festive songs were playing on the radio. There was a lovely aura in Hawkins in contrast to how it had been all those months ago. Hawkins really was in a Christmassy spirit.

 **A/N: I won't be publishing next Sunday. I will release Chapter 11 soon. It will be Christmas themed and will contain something very special. I have been very committed to this fanfic however I have been super busy over the Christmas period and I have been trying my hardest.**


	11. Chapter 11: Christmas & New Year

Hawkins really was in a Christmassy spirit.

The pine tree smell was in the air as the students walked to school on a bitter 9th December. There were still a couple of weeks to go to Christmas but people were still hyped. The Thanksgiving feelings had been washed away and Christmas had truly set in. In the last week nothing particularly special had happened except maybe a bird pooing on Dustin's head the Thursday before on his way home. Steve explained to him what to do and he followed the instructions to the letter. He washed it multiple times and it was all sorted.

The kids willed the week to go quickly but it ended up going slower every time they looked at the clock. One day at break, Eleven and Mike started talking.

'Mike, did you enjoy it?' asked El.

'Enjoy what?' said Mike, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

'The sex' she whispered.

'Yeah, I guess so' he said nervously.

'Good, cos I wanna do it again' she said trying to hide her excitement but ultimately failing at this.

'What?' He was taken back by this response as he wasn't expecting it to escalate that quickly.

'I wanna do it again' she repeated with more confidence than excitement.

'Um, Ok' he said. 'When were you thinking of doing it again?'

'I don't know yet but some time when we are alone and have time' she replied enthusiastically.

'Ok, you know that we should only do it at home right', Mike checked with her.

'Yes, of course I do' she answered, giving Mike the answer he had hoped for.

The bell rang signifying the end of break and the start of another boring period that would go on way longer than it had to just because time 'slowed down' when it got to Christmas. The rest of the week went pretty quickly for the weeks before Christmas but Mike couldn't get that conversation out of his mind. 'She really enjoyed it the first time, it seemed' thought Mike as he left school on Friday 13th.

The sleepover wouldn't commence this weekend as they had agreed that in the period before/at/after Christmas there wouldn't be any. Mike had nothing to do but he was sure his friends would be available. Wrong. Most of his friends were out of town visiting relatives for Christmas. Only Lucas was available after school on Friday so they went Christmas shopping.

Mike was unsure what to get El for Christmas. He knew that she liked basketball but she already had pretty much everything associated with basketball so he looked for other things that would suit her and he came upon a nice pair of shoes that he thought she would like. He paid for them and went to the diner to have a milkshake. After this they set off to Lucas's house to wrap up all their presents. After they finished He said goodbye to Lucas and went home prepared to go and visit his great aunt Millie (reference included) in Cincinnati the next day.

He woke up bright and early ready for his great aunt's overly makeuped face and her old woman/cherry smelling house. The afternoon was boring for everyone. She always had so much to say and when anyone else tried to say anything she either butted in with a comment or fell asleep. This meant that the next 5 minutes were taken up with them trying to wake her up and then forgetting the point they were trying to make.

This allowed Mike to get away with taking naps as well while the conversation was going on but waking up when they were speaking loudly trying to get his great aunt to wake up. They left just after 9pm and all went straight to bed when they got home. Even with Mike's naps his aunt was so boring that he slept until the afternoon on that Sunday.

The rest of the week went pretty quickly and they broke up from school on that Friday 20th. They would return to school on the 6th January. They all had a very great first few days of Christmas. They had snow fights, DD battles, made snowmen and pranked each other. They watched the movie Back to the Future for the first time and they all loved it. Nobody mentioned Dustin's previous intoxication by the being.

All of them got great presents. Mostly cash, clothes and hygiene products but there were some other presents like a new DD set to replace the tattered old one that Dustin had, a pump for El's basketball and a basketball cap for her. Mike got a games console with a couple of games.

The biggest present of all, however, were Lucas's parents giving him an upgraded Wrist Rocket. It could now fire little explosive pellets as well and his dad had spent quite a few hours fashioning it in his shed so that it had the perfect grip, stretch and an all new aiming mechanism. It was going to come in handy, trust me!

New Year's came and all of them got together at Mike's house where they had a party in the basement/living room and had the TV on ready to watch the fireworks.

During this party Lucas, Dustin, Will, Mike, Max and El were in the basement drinking soda. At around 11pm El called Mike upstairs to his bedroom where she revealed herself to be standing half naked with the words 'Let's do it now' trickling out of her mouth.


	12. Chapter 12: The News

As Mike looked at El, he realised that she was serious about this.

'Well' said Mike. 'Are you sure you want to do this now?'

'Yeah, I am' said El nodding to intensify the effect.

Mike thought about this for a while before giving his answer. 'I really enjoyed it last time however I think that we should wait a little while before doing it again'

'Why, didn't you like it last time?' El asked.

'Yeah I did but it was like an experiment and I think we should definitely 'test' again but at a later time when we are private and not on New Years Eve'

'Ok' said El, clearly disappointed but she recognised what Mike was saying.

'Keep this to yourself, please' said Mike. 'The guys would torment me if they found out'

'Ok, I will' said El.

Then they heard a knocking on the door. At this point they had finished their talk so they let the person in to see what they had to say.

'Mike, El' said Nancy as she entered the room. 'What've you been doing the fireworks are about to start'

'Just having a chat' Mike said. 'It's personal' he added before Nancy could say anything

'Oh' said Nancy. 'Come downstairs now they're starting'

'Cool' El said and they left the room.

They all went downstairs to enjoy the fireworks. The fireworks lasted well into the early morning. When they had finished everyone went home and to bed.

It was a very late start for everyone, obviously. Everyone felt groggy and there were many a hangover for all the alcohol was drunk last night. The kids were very tired waking up but soon got into rhythm again.

'1986' Dustin thought as he went downstairs to get some breakfast. 'New year, new me, new pearls'.

They all were pretty board on New Year's Day so they decided to take a trip up to Mirkwood where Castle Byers stood in all its splendour. They all agreed to meet at midday via walkie-talkie. They all cycled there and bought some targets for Lucas to try some his new Wrist Rocket.

This lasted into the afternoon and at around 5pm they all got ready to cycle home to do their various things. Mike, Dustin and Lucas had homework to do, El wanted to practice basketball and Will was tired. A mysterious figure had appeared in front of them blocking their path. It was Cal.

'How are you Cal' asked Lucas.

'Fine thank you' he said. 'You should be getting home now'

'Were just on our way' Will and Mike said together and with that they left.

They all made it home safe and carried out their tasks. The rest of their Christmas holiday was uneventful and they mainly caught up on sleep and getting ready for going back to school. On the first day most of them were late but they had excuses and Mr. Clarke let them off this once. The lessons resumed as normal much to the dismay of the kids but at least it was better than the Upside Down.

Meanwhile in our parallel dimension the huge octopus creature made of dust had been busy training his 7 foot 11 monsters the art of combat and who they had to take out and who to bring back to him. After school, Lucas said he felt a bit groggy and went to the toilet. They assumed he made it home okay and shrugged it off as a common stomach bug.

When his parents came to question him about where her son was though, alarm bells were raised. They all called into the police station and were told that about 5 mins a boy matching her son's description had been taken to the hospital. It was revealed that he had fainted in the toilet and the janitor had found him.

They all showed up to the hospital with them all worried and were told that only his parents and sister could visit. The others went home anxious to hear what was wrong with him. Once they had said hi and greeted him, the doctor's sat his parents down and they said that they had found a malignant neoplasm (tumour) growing in his head. He was in the very early stages and so it could be treatable with chemotherapy.

The next couple of minutes were filled with questions, prayers and a whole load of tears being shed. His family stayed with him for the night. The next morning the news reached the others. They explained what had happened. Once again this was met with tears and many prayers.

The kids radioed and agreed to meet at the hospital later that day, alone. They walked into his room and gathered some chairs and just sat there with him, crying.

'Lucas, you alright' asked Max.

'Yeah girl. I'm good'' he replied.

Not much more was said as the tears muffled their words and their emotions got the better of them.

The doctor remarked to the nurse 'If that's not true friendship then what is' and went to treat another patient.


	13. Chapter 13: The Big Idea

**A/N: Max hasn't featured a lot in my story recently so this chapter puts her back into the story with the news of her boyfriend having a tumour.**

The gang were sat in Mike's bedroom silent as a door mouse just looking at each other. The tension in that room was so great no one dared break it. They had returned from the hospital about an hour ago and at first had tried to make conversation but when it became apparent that this was not going to work, they quickly resorted to silence as they just sat and thought about all their experiences with Lucas and why Lucas had to be the one to contract this tumour.

Just as they had to leave for dinner El had an breakthrough idea.

'Guys before you go, I have an idea' said El. 'What if my psychic powers were able to heal Lucas somehow. I closed a gap to an alternate dimension, so I could potentially be able to heal Lucas'

'Woah, Woah, Woah' said Dustin. 'What?

'I could help Lucas, I'm sure of it' replied El.

'It does seem like a good idea' said Mike

'It does to you, does it?' said Will, surprisingly loud. 'How would she do it and what would we do with it once it was out? How would we keep Lucas stable? How-'

'I don't know' said Mike. 'It was just El's idea'

'You guys think about this very carefully before we even begin think about testing your theory' said Will.

'We will' said Mike and El together.

'There is a lot of thinking that needs to go into this' said Dustin

'I know' said Mike. 'We need to consider every possible scenario and test this theory, as Will said. We can't just go in there and let El start using her psychic powers. It would have to be done secretly and covertly. If we were caught, the consequences would be astronomical. We have to keep this between ourselves and no one else. Is everyone in agreement?'

'Yes' they all said in sync.

'Good. You guys better be getting home for dinner'.

Dustin was the first to leave followed by Will and El. Max stayed back to talk to Mike.

'I'm still relatively new to this town compared to you' said Max.

'Yeah, I guess' responded Mike.

'Why did this have to happen to Lucas' she asked starting to cry again.

'I don't know Max' said Mike sympathetically. 'We're all wondering that but you can have confidence in the fact that El or the chemotherapy can take care of him.'

'I know' she said through tears. 'When I first met him I thought he was stalking me but as time went on and strange things started to happen I started to feel closer and closer to him. I could take comfort in having a friend like him and that night at the junkyard with Dustin and Steve, I really felt something for him. Over time, I developed stronger feelings and at the Snow Ball when we kissed I felt complete. And now for this to happen, I just don't want to have this taken away so soon after it was given to me'

'It won't be' replied Mike. 'When I lost El for a whole year I felt so empty inside, but I always knew that she would come back. That's the mentality you need to have. I don't want you or anyone else to feel like I did when El was gone'

'Thanks Mike' Max said and hugged Mike while crying softly.

'You're welcome' he replied, slightly startled by the hug but returning it in a friendly way.

She got up and went home for dinner with Mike also going for dinner.

After dinner he went upstairs and started to think about how they could test El's powers to see if it would be possible to heal Lucas. He started drafting different experiments they could do first using everyday materials and later moving on to organic matter experiments. Mike settled on an idea of taking a straw out of a closed plastic bottle. This would be one of the first things he tried.

'Right, organic material' Mike thought.

Trees, flowers, plants were just some of the things he came up with. He finally settled on trying to take a layer of bark out from within a tree in Hawkins.

He thought about he would tell his friends his ideas but didn't want El to feel like a lab rat or something that they were using just for her abilities. She had suggested it herself so that made it easier. They would have to go about this very carefully though for Lucas' sake and for El's mental wellbeing. If they conducted themselves even remotely like the people at Hawkins Lab he would never forgive himself.

He finished up his ideas and reflected on the conversation earlier with Max. He would make sure that she didn't go through what he went through for an entire year when El was gone. They would all save Lucas. He didn't want to be the one who took credit for this though. If anyone took credit it would be all of them.

Meanwhile at the Byers residence Will was in bed thinking hard about El and Mike's idea. He could see why they wanted to help but their methods were what he was worried about. His conscience told him that he should be supportive but to have caution as well.

'Is this morally right?' he thought aloud. With that he went to sleep comfortably, dreaming about Lucas and all the good times they had shared together and with their friends


	14. Chapter 14: An Unexpected Visitor

Mike awoke to a sudden bang downstairs. No one else appeared to have been woken up so Mike went downstairs to get a torch and have a look at what was there.

'Hello, is anyone there?' Mike called out. He entered the kitchen and saw his mum with rope tied around her hands and feet and was duct taped to a chair.

'MIKE LOOK OUT!' his mum screamed but it was too late

His vision went blurry when a blunt object hit him in the head from behind.

When he woke up his head hurt like shit and he found that he was tied to a chair.

'Hello, Mike' said a voice behind him. He would know that voice anywhere. The piercing, hard stare of the blue eyes and the cold, monotone voice would make anyone who had come into contact with this person faint or angry to the point of no return. The person walked in front of Mike to reveal himself. The white hair gave him away even if you didn't know this person. Martin Brenner stood here before him.

'What are you doing here' said Mike maliciously.

'I'm here to collect what belongs to me' said Brenner.

'You mean El don't you' said Mike, still with that attitude.

'Of course' said Brenner. 'I also have intelligence you came into contact with Six, or Callum as he now calls himself'

'What of it' questioned Mike, through gritted teeth.

'Where is he?' asked Brenner.

'I don't know and even if I did I certainly wouldn't tell you. You dirty, stinking low-life mother******* son of a *****' cursed Mike at Brenner.

'Don't talk to me like that young man' said Brenner. 'You just halved your chances of your mother getting out of this alive'

'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?!' exploded Mike.

'Nothing yet' said Brenner.

'What about Dad and Nancy' said Mike.

'Your Dad is with your mum' said Brenner. 'We haven't found your sister yet as she just happened to be awake just as we pulled up here'

'YES!' thought Mike. 'At least Nancy got out and help will be on the way soon'

'Where is El, then?' asked Brenner and he brought out Mike's mum from the closet under the stairs. He got a glimpse of his Dad asleep/unconscious.

'If you don't cooperate, your mum's pain receptors will be feeding a lot of signals to her brain' said Brenner.

'Don't tell them anything Mike, I'll be fine' said his Mum.

'Somebody shut her up' exclaimed Brenner and a scientist came out of nowhere and taped her mouth shut.

Mike really had a bad situation on his hands. 'Should I tell him where she is' his brain asked. 'No, you definitely shouldn't you know what will happen to her' his heart said. 'But what about Mum/' his brain asked.

Just then a bird cawed. Mike inwardly smiled.

'Weird sounding birds' commented Brenner. 'What are you smiling at? You should be thinking about what your decision should be.'

Mike was smiling because when El had come back they had created a signal together so that if any of them were in trouble they would know immediately what was going on. The signal they had settled on? A cawing bird.

A couple of bangs outside were enough to alert the guards in the house but before they could even get out the door a Steve Harrington and Chief Hopper charged through the door. Steve was swinging his trademark baseball bat with Hopper shooting at whatever guards he could. Aside from these guards everyone else dropped down with blood dripping from their eyes and ears, except Brenner.

A girl with a nosebleed calmly walked through the door and into the bloody living room followed by Will, Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy. They untied Mike and his Mom before helping his Dad out and Mike's mum took him upstairs while the rest of them turned to face Brenner.

'What are you doing in my town' said Hopper, fiercely.

'I came to retrieve what's mine' Brenner said, calmly.

'I'm going to assume you mean El and tell you that she is legally adopted by me and is part of this family and this community of Hawkins so you can f*** off' replied Hopper.

'On the contrary, you should watch what you say' said Brenner and in steps Kali.

Everyone fell to the floor swatting the flies that Kali had projected onto them.

'It's just an illusion' El shouted.

'Aaargh' were the sounds from everyone.

Meanwhile, Brenner tried to grab El but she fought him off fiercely and eventually El kicks him off enough to wrestle Kali to the ground and force her illusions to stop.

El turned to Brenner and calmly says 'You won't be hurting anyone else anymore' and with one neck movement Brenner's neck is broken and he is lying on the floor, motionless. In all this confusion, Kali had escaped in one of the vans. They went out to search the remaining vans and find nothing, thank god.

'Is everyone alright?' asked Hopper.

Apart from the occasional cut or bruise no injuries were sustained and everyone agrees that Hawkins needs defensive measures against things from the outside…


	15. Chapter 15: The Return

The problem arose of what to do with the dead doctor/mad scientist's body. There were ideas of dumping it in a dumpster but Hopper came up with a good idea.

'Has anyone touched the body' he asked.

'No' was the response that came back from everyone.

'Good' said the Chief. 'We need to transport this body to the lake and leave it there. I also need someone to volunteer to call the station and tell them that they found the body'

'I'll do that' said Jonathan.

'Great' Hopper said. 'Now I need some latex gloves and a couple of people to help me transport the body'

'What about the neighbours?' asked Steve.

'I'll deal with that' said Hopper.

They proceeded to carry the body out to Hopper's truck and he drove up to the lake and dropped the body off. While he did this everyone went to their respective homes and tried to get whatever little sleep they could.

The next day all the members of the traumatised families took a day out of their normal lives to get it together again and Will, El and Mike were given the day off school.

'Yo, Will. You there?' asked Mike over the walkie-talkie.

Immediately a response came through. 'Yeah, how you doing?' he asked.

'Physically, fine' Mike started. 'Mentally, not so well and emotionally, shaken a little but yeah I'm holding up well considering'

'Great' said Will.

A silence followed.

'I feel kind of bad for Dustin and Max, who are at school without us' said Will.

'And, they don't know what happened last night' added Mike, slightly guiltily.

'I know, that sucks' said Will.

'I think that Dustin will probably show up to my house after school though and ask why we weren't at school today said Mike.

'How do you know he'll show up to your house' asked Will.

'My house is closer to the school and he's Dustin so he'll come by I know it. I want you guys to come to my house when school ends as well. We're gonna start on Lucas' plans'

'Cool, we'll be there' he said.

Mike got up and left the Byers' residence on his bike.

At Hawkins Middle School, Dustin sat in class staring at the four empty seats that were usually occupied by his friends. Lucas he knew about but he didn't know why Mike, Will and El were missing. He had asked Max if she knew anything but she had no clue and she suggested that they were sick but Dustin lived in Hawkins, IN and if there was one thing he knew it was that nothing in Hawkins was as it seemed any more.

After school he went to Mike's house and asked to come in, just as Mike had predicted

'Come in, Dustin' said Mike's mum.

'Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler' Dustin replied. 'Mike wasn't in school today. How come?

'You'd better ask him yourself. I'd rather not talk about it' she said.

'Oh-Okay' said Dustin, slightly worried.

'He's upstairs' she added before walking off into the living room to watch TV.

Dustin walked up the stairs and into Mike's room.

'Yo Mike' greeted Dustin.

'Hey man' said Mike, looking up from his book.

'What's up' he said.

'Nothing much, just trying to get last night out of my head' replied Mike.

'What happened?' Dustin asked.

'It's a long story' said Mike.

'I've got time' said Dustin.

So Mike started to tell Dustin about what happened and about how Dr. Brenner showed up and what happened with El, Kali and everything else, not leaving anything to the imagination. When they had finished talking he sat down and just said 'Wow'

'I know it was quite an experience for all of us. I was with Will and El earlier and they are holding up as best they can'

'Now, how would you like to help me with the plans for Lucas'

'I'd love too' said Dustin.

The front door bell rang. 'It's us' said Will.

'Oh yeah I invited them as well' added Mike.

'That's cool' said Dustin.

Mike answered the door and they all went up to his bedroom.

'Right let's get started' said Mike.

At the hospital, Lucas had a headache and was just tired. His family came by for their daily visit and he was grateful that they showed up as frequently as they did.

They weren't his only visitors as Cal walked into his room.

Cal had heard about the news from El and came back to pay his condolences and see how everyone was doing. This wasn't the only reason as he knew about Brenner and he knew that something big was coming to the small town of Hawkins, IN.


	16. Chapter 16: The Confrontation

'Hey Lucas' said Cal as he walked into his room.

'Cal? Hey how are you?' asked Lucas.

'I'm good but the main thing is how are you doing?'

'I've been better' he said while chuckling a little bit.

'I know, I remember'

'Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something since I last saw you'

'What is it?'

'Can you really use any weapon known to man?'

'Pretty much, yeah. They turned me into the ultimate fighting machine with the ability to master any combat style, mimic the style of my opponent and use most weapons'

'I want you to take my wrist rocket' said Lucas.

'No, I could never. It is your prized possession. Is it not?'

'Well, yeah. But I'm not gonna be using it any time soon and there's no guarantee I'll ever be able to again so I figured I'd give it to you'

'I am honoured to be able to take this from you. May I take a quick try with it?'

'Sure' said Lucas and Cal got a coke can from the vending machine and placed it on the window sill.

Lucas gave him the ammunition and took aim and fired hitting the Coke can perfectly.

'This will be a valuable asset. Thank you once again'

'No problem' said Lucas and Cal tucked it away into his bag.

'I must leave now. Things to do and not a lot of time to do it'

'Okay, sure thing. Take good care if my baby' said Lucas.

That forced a smile onto Cal's face an even a little laugh.

'I will' he said, still chuckling and left the hospital room.

As Cal walked out of the hospital, with Lucas' wrist rocket in his bag he was greeted by a white van and a strange looking girl in it.

'Cal.' The figure in the driver's seat emerged from the van to reveal an Indian complexion.

'Kali?' She got out of the van and walked over to the hospital entrance where Cal stood motionless. The wind brushed up against her hair covering the left side slightly. She looked straight at him as if trying to decide whether to embrace ir attack this boy. Kali walked closer to the boy and spoke quietly.

'What's up?' Her voice chilled his bones as it was much colder than he remembered.

'Nothing much' said Cal as he stepped back a little bit.

'What's wrong, you scared of me?'

'I have no fears; you of all people should know this.'

'Oh I do, when I peer into your mind I can find no traces of fear.'

A silence followed.

'What do you want?' asked Cal.

'I want you to join me in finding all of our brothers and sisters from Hawkins Lab.'

'No, I will not. Not after what you did to them and me all those years back.'

'You still remember that?'

'Oh, yes. It was the only experience in my life where I truly felt scared and. I don't need to go into it. You did it for Him and as far as I'm concerned even though he is dead, you still follow him'

'I don't know where you get these crazy thoughts from but will you at least think about it?'

'If you don't leave, I shall add a second scar to the one I made all those years ago'

Kali moved her finger across her left thigh where the scar was.

'Please think about it?'

'Leave now' Cal said, slightly raising his voice.

'Please, I'm begging you, just consider it'

'Leave Now!' he repeated, with more volume and with one hand in his bah ready to pull out his compacted spear.

'Okay, I'm going' and as she went to get back in the van, Cal heard an ear piercing high pitch frequency. He took out his spear with one hand and clutched his left ear in his other hand and with one slash of his now full length spear a cut was made down the right hand side of Kali's face. The frequency stopped immediately.

'Let that be a lesson to you' said Cal. 'I never go back on my word. So leave this place and don't come back

She got in her van and drove away in the opposite direction to Hawkins.

'I'll beat you one day. Now to find the other 12 and she pushed the accelerator to the floor, speeding away from Hawkins.

El was busy getting some homework done when Joyce entered and told her she had a visitor. It was Cal.

'I have some news' he said, sitting down.

'What is it?' asked El.

'I have seen Kali and she is trying to find the other Hawkins test subjects. I fear she is going to use the combined abilities for something bad.'

'What can we do?' said El.

'You have the ability to find them. We could find them and protect them from her.'

'Okay' said El. Suddenly an object flew from El's dresser straight at Cal. He caught it in between two fingers.

'What was that for?' asked Cal.

'Just making sure you weren't one of Kali's illusions'

'Good idea' said Cal. 'Now to work on finding our brothers and sisters.'


	17. Chapter 17: Number 012

'I need water and static to find them' said El

'That will be arranged' replied Cal.

'What will be arranged?' asked a voice from the doorway. It was Hopper.

'We're going to try and find the other Hawkins test subjects' said El.

'Are you now?' said Hopper. 'Why?'

'Because Kali/008 is trying to find them all and I had a confrontation with her and confirmed my suspicions that she is working for the Mind Flayer' explained Cal.

'Oh, her the one you saw last year' asked Hopper.

'Yeah, her' replied El.

'How many are there to find?' quizzed Hopper.

'15 in total' said Cal.

'Okay, I'll get the water, you get the static' said Hopper and left the room.

When it was all set up, El got into her swimsuit and submerged her body in the water. While they had been setting up, El had asked for Mike to be present and to be filled in on all the details of what had happened. The static was turned on and El was whisked away from the normal world and into her mind. The vision was the same as always. Water was under her feet and black all around with a light above her head

Hopper had a list in his hand with the number 001-015 with 006, 008 and 011 crossed off the list. She was told by Hopper to go through the list in numerical order and if anything bad happened, she should come out of it immediately. She thought '001' and a vision materialized in front of her. It was a boy about 19 yrs old running down an alley with sirens following him. He turned into an alley with a dead end and cops blocking the only exit. He turned to them and said calmly 'You're not looking for me. You have no reason to be here. Go back to the station and tell them the suspect got away.' 'Yeah, he got away. Come on boys back to the station' and they all drove away.

They went through all the rest subjects one by one each time. El telling them what she found. The last two were the most surprising. They were identical twins, a boy and a girl with the by controlling fire and the girl controlling water. By the end Hopper had a list that explained the gender, power and age of each test subject:

 _001 – manipulate peopled feelings. Boy. 19_

 _002 – Shapeshifting. Girl. 19_

 _003 – Regenerative/Healing abilities. Girl. 18_

 _004 – Manipulate the element of Earth. Boy. 18_

 _005 – Manipulate the element of Air. Girl. 17_

 _006 – Combat abilities. Boy. 17._

 _007 – Control over nature. Girl. 16_

 _008 – Manipulate sense of sight. Girl. 16_

 _009 – Manipulate sense of hearing. Boy. 15_

 _010 – Manipulate sense of touch. Boy. 15_

 _011 – Psychokinetic abilities. Girl. 15_

 _012 – Teleportation. Girl. 14._

 _013 – EM spectrum manipulation. Boy. 13_

 _014 – Manipulate the element of fire. Boy. 12. Twins with 015_

 _015 – Manipulate the element of water. Girl 12. Twins with 014_

As they wanted to round up as many of the 'subjects' as quickly as possible they went after 012 first who had the power of teleportation (although she herself didn't know it) to get to all the rest of them pretty quickly. She was located west of Chicago in a place called Aurora. They checked in on Kali as well and it turns out she was on her way to find 012 as well, whose whereabouts was probably delivered to her by the Mind Flayer. They resolved to leave as soon as possible. An hour later Cal along with Mike, El and Hopper were all in Cal's van driving in the direction of Aurora.

When they were on the edge of Aurora they put El in water again and tracked down 012 a bench Abraham Lincoln Park. They ruffled her hair and she shot up fright in her eyes and her face a pale white you would've thought she was a vampire. She tried to run but Cal stopped her in the softest way he knew. He out his hands on her shoulders and told her to calm down. 'We're here to help you' he said

'Who are you?' she asked very tensely.

'I'm Six and this is Eleven' Cal and El said together.

'Who?' she asked a little bit more calm.

'We're from Hawkins Lab' they said.

'I don't know what that is or where that is. What do you want with me?' she asked.

'Show us your wrists' said Cal and she did reluctantly. Sure enough on her wrist it said the number 012. Cal and El showed her theirs as well.

'That's where you got the tattoo' El said.

'Prove it' she said.

'Okay' she said and lifted an item out of the nearby bin and set it on the bench next to 012.

'Has anything weird ever happened to you?' Cal asked.

'Well, one time I thought about how nice it would be to go to Hawaii and I saw the beaches in my mind and I opened my eyes and I was there in Hawaii. I was so scared that I thought about home and I popped back here just like that'

'Everyone from the lab has special abilities. I can master any weapon and combat style known to man' said Cal.

'I don't go by Eleven. My names El and this is Cal' said El. 'That's my dad, Hopper' she said gesturing to Hopper. 'And that's my boyfriend, Mike' pointing to Mike causing him to blush.

'Hey El and Cal' pulling them both into a hug. 'I'm Sophie'

'We need you to come with us' said Hopper.


	18. Chapter 18: Preperations

'We need you to come with us' said Hopper.

'Okay sure, but what's going on?' she asked.

'I'll explain later' said Hopper. 'Come with us and we can guarantee your safety'

'Can you really guarantee my safety' she asked, cautiously. Before Hopper could answer she asked another question. 'And you said, 'all of you.' Does that mean there are others like us', directing the question at El and Cal.

'Yes, 15 in total' El said, in a calm manner.

'Because there is another like us' said Hopper. 'Her name is Kali and she is on her way to get you as well. In a nutshell she wants you to join her and fight us because she was corrupted by an evil and truly horrific creature known as the Mind Flayer. Sounds silly but it's the best we could do, and it stuck. We are trying to keep all of you away from her so that there is no battle, and everyone is kept safe.'

'Wow' she said before she gave a look that looked like a lightbulb had just gone off in her head.

'What _are_ my abilities exactly' she asked.

'We believe the best description would be teleportation' she said.

'Teleportation?' she said and then burst out laughing. When she saw that no one else was smiling she controlled herself.

'You're serious?' she said.

'Yeah, totally' said El.

'There's no way' she said.

'Let's test it then' said El.

'How?' said Sophie.

'Visualise a Hawaiian beach and hold my hand' said El.

'Okay' said Sophie. She closed her eyes and visualised a Hawaiian beach. Her hands started to glow, and she started to rise off the ground. There was a flash of light and they were gone. On the ground where they had been standing was a small circle of white-hot ground and the concrete had cracked underfoot. A minute or so later a small humming noise emerged from seemingly nowhere and in a blinding flash of light, they returned to the same position they were in earlier.

'So?' inquired Hopper after a short period of silence.

'It didn't really feel like anything' said El. 'It was instantaneous'

'Yeah' said Sophie. 'One minute we were here and the next minute we were in Hawaii. It was freaky' she added.

'I'm glad that it went well' said Hopper. 'Do you trust us enough to come with us now?'

'Yeah, I do' said Sophie.

10 minutes later they were in Cal's van driving back to Hawkins with El and Sophie giggling like they had known each other for years.

Mike was bored and was looking out of the window. He began to think about the events of the last couple of years. How this girl had fallen into his life literally in the middle of nowhere and how they had progressed to this point. How she had literally destroyed two monsters with her mind. An outsider would have thought this would be written in a book or be on a tv series or something like that but for Mike it was totally real. He was lucky. At this point he came out of his thoughts and saw all of them, bar the driver staring at him.

'What?' he asked.

'Next time you go into deep thought, try not to dribble' said Hopper before El and Sophie went back to giggling even more than before.

He checked his shirt and chin and there was spit all down it. 'Ew, gross' he said and as he was wiping it off, he locked eyes with El and he got a series of thoughts seemingly from nowhere showcasing highlights of their experiences followed by a big heart at the end.

'Wow' exclaimed Mike.

'It's not that big of a deal, chill' said Hopper.

'No, that's not it. I was gonna say-' he began. He saw El's expression and immediately backtracked on what he was gonna say.

'That this journey is going longer than I thought and I wanna get home' said Mike.

'Right' said Hopper. 'Not far now'

'Great' said Mike before turning to El, but got a look that said 'I'll explain later'

The rest of the journey was relatively uneventful. They had a spider in the van and El freaked and launched it out the window. That was about it. They arrived back about an hour after Mike 'asked' and turned to El.

'What was that?' he asked.

'I've been trying it out and it hasn't worked until I saw you dribbling when you were thinking and started to think about how I wanted to share my experiences with you and I literally shared my thoughts with you'

'Wh-Wow' said Mike.

'Anyway, I've gotta go with Dad now so I'll see you later' said El.

'Oh, absolutely' said Mike and headed into his house.

Over the next few days they spent their time rounding up all of the 'subjects that they could find but Kali had already got to some of them. They managed to get 7 of the 12 that remained aside from Cal, Kali and El. Once they had rounded them up, the question of how to train them arose.

'What do we do now?' asked Dustin after he had been told what had happened and everyone gathered.

'Your job along with Will, is to keep Lucas company. He needs you' said Hopper.

'You got it' said Will and Dustin simultaneously.

'Now then, to business' said Cal and they all started to figure out what would happen when Kali was going to mount an attack. Which wouldn't be too far away. In fact, she was on her way, right then and there with a formidable force.

They worked all night until they had a plan and started to train the 'troops'. Then one morning about a week after they first started training and planning, she showed up on the edge of town.

'Come on then, let's get this over with' said Kali and they moved into the town of Hawkins, ready for battle.


	19. Chapter 19: The Beginning of the End

'Come on then, let's get this over with' said Kali and they moved into the town of Hawkins, ready for battle.

They had been training for a week and it was not looking good.

'This could be better' said Cal, talking to El and Hopper.

'You're telling me' said Hopper.

'They seem to be getting it but at the same time, it's just not enough' said Cal.

'Perfectly summed up, Cal' said Hopper.

'Some are making good progress' said El, chiming in.

'Yes, but we need them all to make progress' said Cal, ever being the realist.

'001, 010 and 007 seem to be the best bets for using their abilities whereas 013 really needs help. Sophie especially is getting good at this.'

'Oh yeah, she'll be a real help' said El.

'Who' said Mike, approaching the three.

'Sophie' said El, giving Mike a quick peck on the cheek.

'She seems to be getting on quite well, from what little I've seen' said Mike.

'Well anyway, we'd better go and see how the new recruits are doing' said Hopper and took Cal with him.

'How've you been?' asked Mike. 'We haven't really had a chance to talk in the past few days.'

'I've been fine but its been hard to face the prospect of fighting someone I thought I had a connection with' said El, expressing a sombre look on her face

'Hey, look at me' said Mike. She did. 'We'll get through this, Lord knows we've been through Hell more than once and we'll make it through again if we have to, together.'

'Thanks, Mike' she said and leaned in for a kiss. He leaned in as well and as their lips touched it sent shivers down both their spines.

Meanwhile, Hopper and Cal were overseeing training and it seemed to be one of the better days that they had seen. The trainees seemed to be grasping their drills and Sophie was doing so well that they had promoted her to instructor with El and Cal. Hopper was overseeing everything when he saw Mike and El walk out together looking very happy.

'If only they weren't so naïve, about what's coming next' Hopper thought. 'Even with special abilities flying about everywhere like Superman or some shit, they have no idea what a battle can do to someone and this is upped the ante by having special abilities.' The thought echoed in his head with sounds of bombs and his comrades shouting his name back in Vietnam. The sight of his dead friends, his effort to survive. And the buzzers of when it was time to 'Move out' as his commanding officer shouted at him. All came together like a tsunami hitting the coast and exploded with the sound of the buzzer the only thing remaining in his head.

No, wait, there was something else. A voice, faint but getting louder and it appeared to be saying the same thing followed by that same buzzer.

'I am 009 and I am with my fellow specialised beings 008, 013, 005, 003 and 013 and we call upon El and the rest of her idiotic posse to meet us outside the gates of the Hawkins Middle School to surrender or face the consequences. You have a half hour.' This message played in, Hopper's and indeed everyone else's head, for a minute exactly and left with the sound of barking fading out as the last recognisable sound.

'Oh, shit' said Hopper.

'It's time' said El and Cal.

'Let's get this shit started' said Sophie.

They went over the plan, who would approach at the front, who would stay behind and what would happen, if a casualty was sustained. Sophie would wait with Mike and the twins while the rest went with Cal and El.

'Ready' said Sophie.

'No, we walk' said El.

'Remember, we do not kill anyone, under any condition' said Cal. We go in with the intention of getting their minds clear and getting them to safety. I have pre-planned a location with Hopper, that you don't know about for security reasons that is being relayed to you now.'

It was Castle Byers, which had been expanded to fit anyone who was injured or worse, killed. But they hoped that it wouldn't come to that. Little did they know that Kali had come up with a plan of her own, equally with the intention of avoiding death, but for a very different reason…

They were walking in the direction of the school. Some brave, some emotionless, some scared, but all equally in possession of the knowledge that failure was not an option and that the fate of more than their own lives and town hang in the balance.

'You know, this time 5 years ago, if you had told me that all this was happening, I would have had you shipped off to the nearest mental asylum' said Mike. 'It's like something out of a film or TV series, but its not, it's our reality. And I wouldn't change it for the world' he said, looking at El.

They continued walking for about 5 minutes.

'It's time' said Hopper.

El and Mike looked at each other

'Bye' said Mike. 'See you on the other side'

'You too' said El.

He and Sophie took their positions on a hill overviewing the school.

'Nervous?' asked Sophie.

'You have no idea' said Mike. 'Wait, what's that?' he asked, pointing below them.

'It's a guy' she said. 'And he's got a weapon'

'GUYS WATCH OUT!' they screamed in unison, but it was too late.

They guy ran towards them as they were turning around and implanted his weapon, a sharp dagger, straight into the chest of El. Just as he did this Cal met his chest with his spear, but it was too late, the deed was done.

'NOOOOOOO!' exploded Mike and ran…


	20. Chapter 20: The Middle of the End

Mike exploded and ran.

 ** _1 hour later_**

They were waiting. Just standing there. Their adversaries stood in front of them.

Neither side said a word. The tension was palpable as they stood there in two rows looking at each other, no facial expression different from the other. Then, finally, a voice.

'You seem to be missing someone' said Kali.

Cal's eye twitched.

'You wouldn't happen to know about that, would you?' asked Hopper, his face cool and calm, opposite to what was going on inside.

'Maybe' she said, toying with him. She began to walk forwards.

So did Hopper. Then as he got closer he noticed something, her eyes, they were grey.

'Wait' he thought. 'They could be an illusion.'

'Hello' said Kali, reaching out to shake his hand.

He didn't.

'So, you're the new dad' she said. 'Not what I was expecting.'

'You're exactly what I expected' he retorted. 'Cold-hearted, callous and nonchalant about death.'

'Now, that's not true' she said, playfully. 'Death hurts, look at my recruit, you took his life, that hurts me, just maybe not emotionally' and she started laughing.

'What's funny?' Hopper asked, through clenched teeth, clenched fists and a whole lot of rage building up. 'My daughter-' he started. 'My daughter nearly died because of you and now she's in a hospital fighting for her life and all you can do is just stand there and laugh.'

'Well yeah' she said. 'And I fully expect you to surrender because of this and you will surrender otherwise there will be consequences'

'Consequences, we outnumber you' said Cal, stepping forward.

'Oh really' said Kali, and she clicked her fingers.

The ground started to crumble and out of nowhere a hole opened right in front of them. Growling and barking emerged from inside the hole.

'Oh shit' said Hopper.

 ** _1 hour earlier_**

'No, El, no, no, no' said Mike crying over her body.

'Oh my god' said Hopper joining Mike. 'El sweetie, look at me, you're gonna be fine.'

Blood was pouring from her wound and she was flicking in and out of consciousness. Everyone else, joined them now, including Sophie. She took one look at El and screamed. Hopper turned to look.

'Yes, that's it' said Hopper, tears streaming down. 'Sophie come here' he said. Get us to a hospital, now!' he said and she, Hopper El and Mike, disappeared in a flash.

They arrived at the hospital with the same flash.

'NURSE, NURSE!' Hopper shouted as they reached the ward.

A few minutes later, El was in surgery and they were in the waiting room.

'Listen' began Hopper. 'I trust you enough that you will stay with her and send Sophie, if ANYTHING happens, do you understand?'

'Yes, but where are you going?' asked Mike.

'As much as I want to stay here, this town needs its sheriff to protect it and that's what I have to do' said Hopper. 'Take me back please.'

One flash and they were gone. About a minute later, Sophie returned alone.

'It's all good, we just have to stay here and if all goes well, in about an hour I need to meet them at the middle school.'

'Okay cool, let's sit down and wait' said Sophie and they sat down, waiting for El to come out of surgery.

Hopper and Sophie arrived to a crowd of questions.

'How is she?' asked virtually everyone.

'She's fine' said Hopper. 'But we have a job to do and I hope that what you just saw motivates you even more to get revenge on the sons of bitches who did this'

'We assure you, it does' said Cal. With that, they were soon on their way more fired up than ever to meet their adversaries and put an end to this.

 _ **1 hour later**_

'Oh shit' said Hopper.

'Get ready, it's about to go down' said Cal.

Their group ran to take shelter behind cars, the dogs had taken place in front of Kali and her group. There was about 20 of them and they all looked identical. And then they charged. Growling and barking they came, swarming Hopper's gang like moths to a lamp.

Cal and Hopper instructed to 'attack' and their first round of projectiles took out 4 of the dogs with Cal single-handedly taking out 5 more and Hopper shooting one down with 3 bullets.

Then the dogs retreated behind the Kali's troops and they attacked, coming together with the rest of Hopper's gang. Three fell immediately, and as if on cue a flash happened, and Sophie came out of nowhere.

'WHAT'S HAPPENING!' she screamed in Hopper's general direction.

'Not enough time, Get…wounded…hospital' was all she could make out, but she did as she was asked. They were out of there in no time.

The battle raged on, half an hour of intense conflict. Kali had lost 2 men fatally, and Sophie had to transport 4 of Hopper's men to the hospital.

Then the dogs came, again. But Cal was at hand. He took 1, 2, 4, and soon all but one remained. He charged at it but was almost knocked clean off his feet by a stray projectile he had to dodge it but lost his spear in the process. Unarmed, he looked at the dog, who charged at him. He jumped out the way several times, but it just kept coming at him. Then he remembered.

'MY BAG!' he shouted, and Hopper threw it to him. Earlier they had used it to store some projectiles, but they were all out.

'WE'RE ALL OUT' shouted Hopper.

'I know' said Cal and retrieved the only weapon that was left, the Wrist Rocket.

He cocked it back and fired it straight at the dog's head. It crashed to the ground lifeless.

'Yes!' said Cal. 'Thank you, Lucas Sinclair.'


	21. Chapter 21: The End of the End

**Chapter 21: The End of the End/Epilogue**

'It's over' Cal said approaching Kali.

'No, it's never over' said Kali and started to run towards him.

As he did, he grabbed his spear and prepared himself. Then he saw. The grey pupils of her eyes. The same colour as the Boss, Hopper and everyone when they were abducted and taken to Boston. He remembered batting Hopper and Dustin in the head with the hilt of his spear. So, he readied himself and whacked it straight into her forehead. She reeled back in pain and let out an inhuman shriek, followed by several others. Grey smoke began to appear out of Kali's remaining servants, and it began to dissipate into the air. However, Kali still hadn't. Then, a voice came from Kali, but not Kali's. It was like a screeching but quieter.

'You will pay for this' she said.

'No, we will resist' said Cal.

'You will fail' she replied.

'I beg to differ' retorted Cal and pointed to her 'army' all on the floor, smoke coming from their ears.

'Silence' she said.

'What are you?' asked Hopper.

'I am behind the last few years of your life. I was the one who caused you to live in fear. I killed Bob. I took Barbara. I made the monsters. I poisoned Will. I am the Mindflayer, as you so quaintly put it. I will be back and believe me I will be back stronger. You may have defeated me now and before but it looks like its taken quite a toll. With your beloved El in hospital, fighting for her life. I-'

'DON'T SAY HER NAME!' shouted Hopper, interrupting it. 'You don't deserve to even mention her name.'

'Oh yes, the father' said Kali, turning to Hopper. 'Well, I expect you to be angry, but in the end it won't matter, she'll be dead soon but it will be on my terms and you wont be there to stop me.'

'Well you tried once and it failed' said Hopper. 'And if I have anything to do with it, you will NEVER succeed.'

'You mean the minor stabbing from earlier, that was just to take her out of the fight, I know how much of an asset she can be. Next time will be different, believe me and after she has crumbled to the floor her lifeless body lying there like roadkill, I'll bring you along for just enough time to realize what had happened before I slowly and mercilessly desecrate you, your friends, your family, your town, your country and the rest of your stupid planet.'

'No you will not' said Cal, speaking for the first time with authority and purpose. 'You will leave and never return.'

'Oh really' said Kali. 'I don't think that-'

'I know' said Cal.

'What?' Kali said.

'I know what happened' said Cal.

'What?' she repeated, but with a much softer voice. 'How could you?'

'Just trust me' said Cal. 'The people responsible are gone. There's no need to fight anymore.'

'I lost everything and you will pay for that' said Kali.

'That's not very fair, after all' and Cal whistled a few notes.

'That's the last thing she told me' said Kali.

'Stop fighting and go back, she wouldn't want this. Honour her and please let us live in peace.' said Cal.

'You are right' said Kali. 'Thank You'

'Safe travels, and I hope you finally make peace with yourself' said Cal.

'I will' and Kali's eyes returned to their normal brown colour. Smoke came out of her ears and the last of the being known as the 'Mindflayer' had gone.

She and her 'friends' started to become themselves again, they looked around confused. 'Who are you?' asked Kali, to everyone around her.

Cal and Hopper sat down together and laughed. He got his bag and picked up the Wrist Rocket off the floor.

'What was that about?' asked Hopper.  
Cal started to tell the story, of how the scientist at Hawkins Lab had managed to open a portal into his dimension, the Upside Down and that whenever someone enters that dimension, it takes the shape of wherever the portal was opened from. He revealed that the scientists had needed to use the Mindflayer's 'mate' to open the portal the first time and it had died because of this. When they entered the dimension again, it took control and set in play the events that started with the Demogorgon, a beast created by the Mindflayer. It has wanted revenge since then. I found all this on file and I managed to get some audio footage of the whistle, which is how they communicated.

'Right then' said Hopper. 'Weird, very weird. Anyway what are we gonna do with those he's left over' and he pointed at Kali and the rest of them.

'Let's get them t Castle Byers' said Hopper. 'Sophie, come here please'

She came over and soon enough one by one they were taken over to Castle Byers where everyone, but Hopper and Cal stayed.

'Take us to the hospital, please?' said Hopper to Sophie.

'Of course' said Sophie and they were there almost immediately.

They went up to where Mike was.

'So, anything' asked Hopper.

'No, she's still in surgery' said Mike. 'The doctor's said they'll tell us if anything new happens'

'Great' said Hopper.

Cal got up and started to walk away.

'Cal, where are you going?' asked Hopper.

'I need to go and speak to somebody' said Cal and he continued walking.

He finally found the room, entered and sat down in the chair.

'Hi' said Cal.

'Hey' said Lucas.

'How're you doing?' asked Cal.

'I'm fine. Until bout 10 minutes ago I felt bad, like everyday since I fainted, but now I feel fine.'

'That doesn't surprise me' said Cal, and he brought Lucas up to speed.

'I told you it would come in handy' said Lucas once he had finished.

'I'm giving it back to you., so you can use it again' said Cal. 'I'll get the doctors to re-examine you'

'Okay' said Lucas and Cal left to find a doctor.

El woke up in the hospital bed. She started to get up but she felt a warm hand on her shoulder gently push her back down.

'Woah there' said the voice belonging to the hand. 'Just try to relax'

Her eyes finally adjusted and she saw her whole family there. Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Dustin, Max, Joyce, Will, Mike's parents, Cal, Hopper, Sophie and Mike.

'What happened, did we-' she began.

'Slow down' said Hopper. 'We'll tell you later. Everything's fine'

'Okay' said El.

A nurse came in.

'Visiting's over, only 1 family member may stay' she said.

'I'll stay' said Hopper.

'Okay' said Joyce. 'Everyone out'

They all left and Hopper leaned in to talk with his daughter.

'How're you doing?' said El.

'I'm fine, exhausted but fine' replied Hopper.

'Great' said El.

Silence followed.

'I just wanna say thank you, for everything' said El. 'I know that I'm not exactly a normal daughter to have and I want to say that I've been a good daughter. I don't think I've ever properly thanked you for taking me in and helping me when no one else would. I know that you kept me away from my friends for my safety and I forgive you for that, I love you and I'm lucky to have you' said El and she drew in Hopper for a hug.

Hopper said only one thing. 'That smile on your face is thanks enough for me' and he got up to leave. 'By the way' he said as he was leaving. 'I still could beat your ass in a swimming race no matter how hard you tried.

'Oh you're on' said El, and Hopper left to let El get some rest.

Over the next few weeks they helped everyone get back to where they wanted to go, most of Kalis faction left and went their separate ways, including Kali herself. Nearly all of Hopper and Cal's friends did the same except Cal and Sophie. Cal agreed to stay around and help them out but inside he just wanted a normal life and Sophie, she just wanted people to be around people she trusted. So they agreed to let them both stay, where they still hadn't figured out.

El got back to full strength and eventually she and Lucas were released from hospital on the same day much to the delight of everyone especially Mike and Max. Eventually, the day came and everyone was so excited. Hopper had pulled some strings and had managed to get the town pool reserved for themselves for the entire day. Everyone they possibly knew came to the pool and it was a great day.

Nancy and Jonathan were closer than ever, Lucas was chasing Max with a water gun, Steve was helping Joyce and Will set up a D&D tournament for the day, Cal was swimming laps by himself, Sophie and Dustin had started to get quite close since they met, Hopper was sitting in the lifeguard chair blowing his whistle every 30 seconds, much to the annoyance of everyone else and El and Mike were splashing each other in the pool and eventually this turned into a full scale water fight.

Then suddenly it came. Hopper got out of his lifeguard chair and looked in astonishment as it happened. Everyone's eyes were fixed on what had just happened. No one predicted this was going to happen. 'Hawkins Swim Race' read the banner, that had just been dropped.

'Yes that's right, a swim race' said Hopper. 'Anyone who wants in let me know. It starts in half an hour'

At that moment, El looked around at everything. She gave Mike a kiss on the cheek and said 'I think we need to test again after this don't you. I mean I just wanna check nothing's faulty, if you catch me'

'Absolutely' said Mike, catching on immediately. 'I look forward to it' and he gave a mischievous smile.

He swam off after his mum called him and she sat on the edge of the pool, thinking. 'What a life' she thought to herself. 'From the Lab to where I am now, I take now any day of the week.'

They got ready to do the swim race and pretty soon it was El and Hopper were in the fial along wih a few others. Steve ended up winning but El came 2nd beating her dad.

'Told you I'd beat you' said El.

'I was just going slow for you because you're still recovering' said Hopper, panting.

'Well that's bullshit' said El.

'Language' said Hopper and smiled a little bit.

'Okay, sure thing Dad' said Hopper.

'This conversation is irrelevant because I won anyway' said Steve, coming over with a towel in his hair.

'Ha ha' said Hopper and El sarcastically.

'Well, next time you might win' said Steve. 'I wouldn't bet on it though'

'Well, Stranger Things have happened' said El.

'Yes, indeed they have' said them all, simultaneously with Mike coming over joining in the conversation as well.

 **Thank You all for the support on this fanfic. It was amazing to write this over 1 ½ years and I am grateful for all your reviews and advice as well. After July 4, depending on what happens in the plot. I might write a fanfic for Stranger Things 3. Stay Tuned and Peace.**

 **Goodbye,**

 **Jman.**


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